Escaping destiny
by InsanityInside
Summary: A different timetravel story. Fred and George’s dream comes true. And turns into a nightmare! And possibly affects history. But how?
1. chapter one

_Yeah, it's a time-travel story.A **different**_ _time-travel story. You see, in a typical time-travel story 16-year-old Harry (and sometimes Ron and Hermione) meet 16-year-old James (and sometimes Remus and Sirius. But Peter is always in the hospital wing at the time) and tell them a lottoo much about their future, but the people from the past forget everything in the end. This story is different. Fred and George **don't** know the whole story. What difference does it make? Well, you will see..._

_Disclamer: Ms. InsanityInside regrets to say that she does not own anything and asks anyone who might want to sue her to bugger off :P_

**Dreams come true?** (or **Something Wrong?**)

'Are you sure it was a right thing to do?' Fred asked his brother as they walked towards their dormitory.

'Well, Harry needs it more than we do,' George answered.

'Maybe he does, but… you know…'

'Oh, he _is_ the right person, you know he is.'

Fred didn't say anything.

'He's only in third year,' George continued 'and he's nearly been expelled _three times!_' The two boys laughed 'And he _does_ need the Map.'

'Sure, I know…' said Fred 'It's just that… I don't know… I think I'm going to miss it.'

George thought about it.

'Yeah,' he said finally 'So am I…'

'Wonder if we ever find out,' Fred said after a moment of silence 'who the guys who made it were.'

'I wish we could meet them' George added.

XXX

You should always be careful when you wish for something. When Fred and George reached the portrait of the Fat Lady and said the password, they realised that something was wrong. First of all the fact that the Fat Lady was there at all. Hadn't she been replaced by that crazy knight? Second of all, she wouldn't let them in!

'What do you mean?' George argued 'The password hasn't changed, has it!'

'Sorry, dear,' she told him 'I can't let you in.'

'Oh, come on!' Fred said desperately 'It's us! Fred and George Weasley!'

'You _do_ know us!' George added 'Everyone does!'

'I am sure I have never seen you before,' the Fat Lady said.

Now this was really strange. She was apparently trying to play some kind of trick on them. Fred and George Weasley were, of course, used to playing tricks on other people, but not to other people playing tricks on them.

And how were they going to get in now? Did they have to wait for somebody else to say the password? Was the Fat Lady going to let that somebody in anyway?

Actually they didn't have to wait long. When they heard somebody behind them, they turned around to see…

'Harry?' said George, surprised 'What are you doing here? I thought you were in Hogsmeade!'

The dark-haired boy stared at the two redheads. They stared back. There was something wrong again…

'Harry?' he asked 'Who the hell is Harry? _And_ who are _you_?'

'What do you mean!' asked Fred in shock 'It's us!' What the hell was Harry up to?(1)

'I can see that it's you,' Harry said 'But who are '_you'_? _And_ who's Harry?'

'_You_ are Harry!'

'No, I'm not!' he argued 'My name is James!'

'Whatever you say, Harry,' George answered, wondering if Harry had gone mad. And then he realised, once _again_, that something was wrong. The boy did look like Harry of course. He had the same face, the same hair and everything. He looked exactly like Harry, except that he was not Harry! (2)

Fred noticed it too. And then he also realised that the stranger looked a little older than Harry. And there was something wrong (again!) with his eyes. That is, not exactly wrong. They were perfectly normal eyes(3). But they were not _Harry's_ perfectly normal eyes. Fred looked at Harry (No, wait! It was James!). Then he looked at George. Then he finally said it.

'There is something wrong…'

Then George came up with an idea. Harry's father's name was James, wasn't it? That would explain why the stranger looked like Harry. But it didn't explain, why he was fifteen years old. Or why he was _here_. Or why he was _alive_. The only explaination was…

'We're in the past, Fred!'

'What do you mean we're in the -?' Fred began to ask. But then he understood.

'James,' he asked a different question 'What year is it?'

'1975. Do you _really_ think I'll believe that you came from the future!'

'No' said George 'We were hoping you'd think we're exchange students from Beauxbatons or somewhere...'

'But we don't know any French,' Fred finished 'So I guess we have to tell you the truth.'

* * *

(1) No good obviously. 

(2) This was another thing the Weasley twins did to other people all the time. But they didn't expect somebody else doing it to them.

(3) Well, almost. He _did_ need glasses.

XXX

'What took you so long, Prongs?' they heard someone say, as James disappeared in the dormitory.

'You wouldn't believe it anyway.'

'What, that you met some people at the entrance and had to talk to them for half an hour?'

'Yeah, well they say they are -'

'Who are they anyway?'

'Fred Weasley and George Weasley'

'Yeah, I can see, but -'

At last George decided to open the door. Inside the room they used to(4) live in they saw James and three other boys sitting on one of the beds, watching something on a piece of parchment. They looked up as the twins walked in.

'Hi' said the two boys uncertainly.

'Hi, guys!' James said cheerfully.

'It's them, right?' asked one of the other three.

'Yes. Fred and George Weasley,' James introduced them 'They're either from some other school or from the future. And these are my friends' he told the Weasleys 'Wormtail' that was apparently the small, plump one 'Moony' the boy looked rather tired, pale and, for some reason, oddly familiar 'and Padfoot' the third one was the tallest of them all and had dark hair.

Fred and George stared at the four of them, amazed. Their dream had come true. And the Map was in the best hands it could be in.

'What's wrong?' Wormtail asked.

'Well, if they're from the future' Moony suggested 'they might know us or something… or maybe we've done something -'

'Maybe we're famous!' Padfoot exclaimed 'Maybe we -'

'Or maybe' Moony interrupted him 'somebody should go ask Dumbledore what to do'

'Right, Mr. Perfect Prefect. If anything interesting happens, tell a teacher…'

'He might actually be right,' Fred said. George looked at him in shock.

'Well, you know,' Fred explained. 'We might want to go back to our time someday. Or we might need somewhere to live while we're here. Or -'

'All right, all right! Let's go talk to Dumbledore.'

And Fred, George and James left the room.

* * *

(4) From James's point of view _were going to_

XXX

'So he doesn't know either,' said George as they left the Headmaster's office 'What should we do now?'

'Maybe wait about twenty years' James suggested 'Then you will be back to your time.'

'And twenty years older' said Fred 'Sure, no big deal: just wait about twenty years!'

'Eighteen' George corrected 'But I still don't like it.'

'I was just joking!' James said 'I mean, he said he'll try to help you, didn't he?'

'Well, yeah, he did…'

'So why don't we just leave it to him?'

'Right… So what was the story again? We're exchange students from err...'


	2. chapter two

**The Future**

'Dumbledore can do _everything_,' James assured the twins as they entered the dormitory again 'Look' he told them. The room had already been adjusted to the new situation. It seemed slightly bigger and contained two beds that hadn't been there before.

'Wow,' said George 'That was fast.'

'Maybe he _really_ can do everything,' Fred agreed.

'Yeah, just stop worrying about it. All you can do now is wait.'

'Eighteen years?' This time it actually sounded funny. After all Fred and George's situation wasn't so bad. Their dream had come true. They had met Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs. The only problem was that Dumbledore had told them to be very careful. Everythng they did could change history. And changing things that have already happened is never good.

'So what's the future like?' Padfoot suddenly asked the question they had been most worried about.

'Oh, we have no idea,' said George

'We're just foreign exchange students and we know nothing about the future' Fred added. Of course everyone knew it wasn't true, but they understood why he said it.

'I thought you were from the future!' well… except for Wormtail.

'Well, they can't tell us anything,' Moony the Prefect explained 'If we know our future, it might change their past.'

'But we try to predict the future in Divination all the time!' Padfoot argued

'You don't. You just make it all up!'

'Ok, we're _supposed_ to try to predict the future. And there's nothing bad about it.'

'Maybe because it never works. This is different.'(1)

* * *

(1) The author of this fic believes that the thing Remus Lupin's Boggart turned into was actually a crystal ball. I mean, who would mistake the moon for a crystal ball? He was probably scared because Trelawney had just tried to predict his future. Makes sense, doesn't it? 

_II, The Loony One (:_

XXX

Finally the six boys decided to leave the future alone and prepare a little surprise for the Slytherins. It was already quite late in the evening. Nearly midnight in fact. The boys had to be careful. However, being careful can be quite difficult with six people and only one invisibility cloak. They decided not to use it that night because it just wouldn't work anyway. Instead five of them were looking around very carefully and Wormtail was looking at the Map to make sure Filch wasn't anywhere around. At last they reached the kitchen.

XXX

Convincing the House-elves to help them with the prank took them about half an hour. It was a very good prank and they couldn't wait to see the Slytherins' faces the next morning. Everyone was in a very good mood. Even Fred and George forgot that they were stuck in the past for Merlin knows how long (2), relaxed and began to really enjoy all this. But maybe it wasn't the best time for relaxing. Being too relaxed can sometimes lead to not noticing some really important things until it's too late.

'Not this way!' hissed Wormtail looking up from the map 'Mrs. Norris is there!'

'Why don't we just kick her and go there anyway?' said Padfoot.

'We tried that once' said George 'Remember, Fred?'

'Yeah. Two weeks of detentions…'

'We do it about once a week,' Padfoot announced proudly 'don't we, Prongs?'

'Yeah, but she can't see us under the cloak.'

'How about going that way?' Moony pointed at another corridor.

'Ok, let's go,' Wormtail agreed. Without looking at the map. Which was a big mistake.

* * *

(2) Or, more probably, even he doesn't know. Especially since the amount of time they would spend in the past did not necessarily have to be the same as the one when they were missing from their time. Travelling in time is enough to get even Merlin confused. 


	3. chapter three

_Yeah, I know the first two chapters weren't very different(1). This chapter is where the fun **really** begins (: _

_

* * *

(1)but the prank does **not** involve turning all the Slytherins' hair pink, I promise!_

**What's your name again?**

'Fred and George Weasley,' said Filch as they all sat down in his office and he began to write something down 'This is only your first night at Hogwarts and you are already in trouble.'

The twins smiled. It was actually the _second_ time they had heard that from him.(1)

Then the man began to write down the others' names. Fred and George suddenly realised that they hadn't even known their realnames before.

'Potter…' muttered Filch. The twins looked at Prongs, thinking about how they had left the map in the right hands. Harry's father. Who would have thought…

'Pettigrew…' they looked at Wormtail. They had heard that name before, but weren't quite sure where…

'Lupin…' _What! _But it did explain why their DADA teacher was the only one who had never given them detention. And Moony _did_ look kind of familiar…

'Black…' they looked around in shock. Was that _him_? Padfoot just sat there, clearly unaware of what he was going to become.

* * *

(1) But it was the first time he was saying it to them. I thought I'd managed to come up with a time-travel story that actually made sense, but apparently you can't avoid a little paradox when you go back in time.

XXX

As they all left Filch's office, Potter, Lupin and Black were too busy being mad at Wormtail to notice, and Wormtail wouldn't have noticed anyway, but Fred and George were trying to hide behind each other's back as if it really could help them. They were also discussing the situation in terrified whispers.

'It doesn't even have to be him,' George said hopefully 'We don't know his first name or anything. It could be his -'

'I've heard that all his family were worse than the Malfoys anyway!'

'And Harry's dad trusting him like this…'

'And we gave the Map to Harry!'

'This is really scary!'

'So what d'you think we should do?'

'Can we even do anything? Dumbledore said it might -'

'But we can't pretend that nothing happened!'

'Well, technically nothing _has_ happened… _yet_…'

'What's happened to you?' Lupin asked them when he was done telling Wormtail off.

'Err…' Fred said 'Nothing, Prof-' George gave his brother a meaningful look 'Err… I mean, Moony'

'Did we do something wrong?' James joined the conversation.

'Uh… no…' George answered.

'Not exactly _you_' Fred said quietly, so that George couldn't hear.

'What's going on?' asked Black, making the twins even more scared than they already were.

They looked around for somewhere to hide, but didn't find anything. At last George found enough courage to ask

'Err… I'm not sure you told us…'

'Could you remind us…?' Fred tried to help.

'What's your name again?'

He stared at them for a moment, slightly confused, and then he introduced himself.

'Sirius Black,' he said 'But what does it have to do with anything?'

It was the twins' turn to stare at him. In shock. They were talking to a fifteen-year-old version of the man wizards and Muggles all over Britain were talking about. _And they weren't saying nice things…_

'You… you…'

'Fred, we can't tell him!'

'But… but he…'

'We _can't_!'

'But - '

'Yeah, I know my family are pureblood-obsessed idiots,' said Black 'But it doesn't mean I have to be like them!'

'He's a Gryffindor after all,' Potter tried to defend his friend. But it didn't help much.

'Is it something about the future?'

The twins nodded.

'But you can't tell us, right?'

They nodded again.

'Then why don't we just stop thinking about it?'

They wished they could. But they were still frightened. Then Pettigrew (Where had they heard that name?) walked over to them as well.

'What's going on?' he asked.

'It's all your fault, Wormtail!' Black said angrily 'I'll kill you for that!'

Fred suddenly remembered, where he had heard Peter Pettigrew's name. Wasn't he the guy who… ?

'Run, Wormtail! He's not joking!'

'Fred, we can't - !'

'We'd better run too…'


	4. chapter four

**You don't _really_ want to know**

'What… was… that… about?' panted Wormtail as he caught up with the twins at the entrance to the Gryffindor Tower.

'We cant tell you' George repeated.

They got into the common room quickly and ran up the stairs to their dormitory.

'It's something about Padfoot, right?' Wormtail asked as Fred locked the door behind them.

'Yeah.'

'I won't tell him anything. You can tell me!'

'No, we can't.'

'And you don't want to know it anyway.'

Suddenly they heard knocking on the door.

'Let us in, guys!' called someone from outside.

'No!' Fred answered

'Oh, come on! We have to sleep somewhere!'

'I refuse to sleep in one room with _you_.' said Fred.

'You can sleep in the common room' George suggested.

'Either tell us what's going on or stop acting like idiots!' demanded someone on the other side.

'You know they can't…' somebody else said.

'I HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW WHY I'M NOT ALLOWED IN MY OWN BEDROOM!'

'uh…' Womtail said nervously 'I think you should open this door… He sounds like he'll blow it up if you don't'

'That's exactly why we _don't_ want to let him in.' George told him.

'Yeah,' Fred added 'better the door than us'

'All right, I'll sleep in the common room,' said the voice from outside the door 'just tell me why!'

Very carefully, Fred opened the door.

XXX

'So what was it all about?'

'You don't _really_ want to know,' George told them.

'Yes, we do,' Black insisted 'Tell us.'

'Well, all right,' Fred said 'In our time…' he was speaking very slowly, hoping his brother would stop him from saying it, remind him once again, that they were not supposed to reveal the future, but this time George remained silent. Fred sighed and began to explain.

XXX

Just a few sentences later four pairs of eyes grew wider than you'd think it's possible.

'No way! That's impossible!'

'Why?' George asked.

'Two reasons,' Black explained 'One: nobody escapes from _that place_, two: what the hell would _I_ be doing _there_?'

'Wishing you hadn't done… um… whatever you did?' Pettigrew suggested.

'Wormtail, I'm _so_ going to kill you now…'

'Hey, maybe you were arrested for killing me?'

Three boys laughed, one decided that he was _not_ talking to Wormtail and two thought it wasn't funny at all.

'Wormtail, you're… good at Divination, aren't you?' Fred asked nervously. Wormtail moved as far away from Black as he could. Lupin stopped laughing. Only Potter still seemed to think it's a joke.

'Divination?' He laughed 'Oh, my God! Wormtail! Is that the Grim in your tea leaves! Have you seen a big black dog recently?'

This made at least some of the others laugh again, but it was a rather nervous laughter. As for Wormtail, he actually _had_ seen a big black dog not so long ago. He knew, of course, that it was not the Grim(1), but at the moment its true identity seemed rather scary as well.

* * *

(1) Grims are actually rarer than Crumple-Horned Snorcacks.(2) And some people believe they also become invisible when somebody is looking at them.

(2) Ha! You thought I wasn't going to mention the Snorcacks in this fic?

XXX

'I guess I'll just… go down to the common room to get some sleep,' said Black a few hours and some rather shocking stories later. The story had shocked him most of them all. Fred and George were beginning to feel sorry for him. He really didn't want all this to happen. He was almost crying. He really hadn't wanted to know _this_, had he?

But, as he got up and headed for the door, an alarm clock went off. It was eight o'clock in the morning. Nobody was going to sleep any more. Not that they would be able to sleep after everything they had found out that night…


	5. chapter five

_Heh... something similar to the prank described in the beginning of this chapter (at a slightly smaller scale... ok... only three victims. But at least I could take pictures of all of their faces :P)has been successfully pulled off by me and my friend._

_And I have used the words 'Go away. I've just found out I can be very dangerous', but that's a long story and I don't think you need to know. (Heh... that sounded scary. But it could have been worse. I could have said that you don't want to know...)_

_Ok, back to the story..._

**This can't be true!**

The house-elves had done a really good job. For the Gryffinors, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs it was the best breakfast ever. All the Slytherins found on their table, however, was some bread and water. Nothing else was going to appear until they'd eaten all they got and were too full to eat any more. The look of confusion in their faces was priceless!

However the authors of the prank were not in the mood to enjoy it. Fred and George were more nervous than they had ever been before, Wormtail was terrified and tried desperately not to sit near Padfoot, who was still very shocked and muttering things like 'This can't be true' and 'I would never…' to himself. Moony and Prongs kept telling him that they did not believe the story they had heard that night, but it was obvious that they were not exactly sure of it themselves. All six boys were tired after a sleepless night and disturbed after finding out things they would rather not know.

'You don't believe it, do you?' Potter said 'We all know you're not evil!'

'Quit hiding under the table, Wormtail,' Lupin was saying at the same time 'Nobody's going to hurt you.'

'Yeah,' Potter added 'We still have six years left to live. We can't spend them under the table!'

Pettigrew gave a small, nervous laugh.

'We really shouldn't have asked,' Lupin said.

'That's it!' Potter suddenly came up with an idea 'We're not supposed to know all this. So why don't we try not to think about it? Pretend we don't know.'

'How about because it's impossible?' Black spoke to the others for the first time in a long while.

'Oh, come on! You don't believe it, do you?'

'I… I don't know…'

XXX 

A slightly younger boy at the Slytherin table was rather unhappy about the prank. He stood up. Then he sat down again, as if not sure what to do. Finally he got up again and walked over to the Gryffindor table.

'What do you want?' Black asked, looking up at him.

'Food,' he said simply 'You don't expect me to eat that stuff we got, do you?'

'Go away, Reg. I've just found out I can be very dangerous.' apparently he was beginning to take it all a little less seriously. He wouldn't _stop_ thinking about it though.

'Oh, come on! We're brothers after all... '

'Oh, now I'm your brother, am I? And where were you the last time Mom was yelling at me?'

'Ah…' sighed Potter 'Back to normal at last…'

'H-he looks very angry though,' Wormtail was still scared 'd-doesn't he?'

'_Almost_ back to normal…'

XXX

A couple of hours later the boys decided they did not believe in the story they had heard that night. It just couldn't be true, could it? Even Fred and George had to admit that it sounded at least a little strange. Others thought 'a little strange' sounds like saying that Severus Snape wasn't exactly their best friend.

'It can't possibly be true! It's about as likely as… as… as Snape becoming a teacher'

'Err…' said George 'Well, actually…'

'Oh no!' James said 'That's worse than the evil Padfoot!'

And this time all six of them laughed at this.

XXX

For a few days life went back to normal again. Classes started on Monday, Fred and George pretended to be foreign exchange students and their four new friends did not want to know any more about the future. It seemed as if they had forgotten about it all. But one day some of them got a little more nervous again. Four of them were discussing something in whispers and stopped talking every time they thought the twins might be listening. In the afternoon Moony felt ill in class, excused himself and went to the hospital wing (Fred and George thought it's unfair. Their teachers would never let them out of the classroom so easily(1).) Later that afternoon the twins overheard the other three talking.

'I-' Wormtail was saying 'I'm not sure I want to come tonight… You know… err…'

'What are you afraid of _this time_?' Padfoot asked.

'Well… You know…' Wormtail stuttered 'A rat is so much smaller than a dog…'

'Don't talk about _that_ again!'

'Err… or a stag for that matter… You might not even _mean _it but - '

'Wormtail,' Prongs told him 'Nobody's going to accidentally kill you tonight. You still have six years left, remember?'

'You still think it's funny?'

Fred and George didn't understand what that was all about, but they had recently understood that there might be some things they'd rather not know(2) and when Padfoot, Prongs and a slightly reluctant Wormtail told them they were going for a little walk, they understood immidiately, that they should not come with them. They spent most of the evening discussing the whole situation. Their roommates had not yet come back when the two boys finally fell asleep.

* * *

(1) Of course this might have something to do with all the things that happen whenever nobody is watching them. Dungbombs, fireworks, exploding toilets… 

(2) And that they already knew some of them. But they were still in a better situation than the other four.


	6. chapter six

_Ok, here's the last chapter. And the reason why this story is different. It_ almost _makes sense, or at least that's what I like to think. Oh yeah. And nobody had to forget anything(:_

**So it was just a dream?**

A few hours later(1) Fred and George heard a voice telling them to wake up. George pretended to be asleep, but Fred opened his eyes to see his friend Lee Jordan.

'What's the matter with you?' Lee asked 'Why didn't you come to Hogsmeade?'

'Oh…' Fred said sleepily 'I guess we were just too tired… Decided to go to sleep early instead.'

'But what about Hogsmeade?'

'Oh, we can go to Hogsmeade any time we like!' Fred assured him 'We know all the secret passages, don't we?'

'All right then,' said Lee 'See you in the Great Hall' And he left the room to go and have some breakfast.

'You're lucky Percy didn't hear you,' said George opening his eyes.

'Why should we care about Percy?' Fred said.

'Because he'd tell Mum,' George suggested 'It's against the _rules_!' he said, trying to sound like Percy.

'Since when do we care about the rules?' Fred laughed 'We're the greatest pranksters since Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs!'

'Oh no!' said George, suddenly remembering something.

'What?' his brother wanted to know.

'I had a really weird dream tonight…'

'So did I,' said Fred 'We were in the past, you know…'

'I think I had the same dream!'

'…and we met Harry's dad, and then it turned out that - '

'Oh no!' George gasped again.

'What?'

'Black…'

Fred looked around, as if expecting to see the man in the dormitory. And then he understood.

'And we gave the map to Harry…'

'Oh no…' George said for the third time.

'But it was just a dream, right?' Fred said hopefully.

'Yeah,' George agreed 'Just a dream…'

* * *

(1) Quite a lot of hours in fact. But it felt like only a few. 

XXX

_About twelve years earlier…_

Dark days… Voldemort had his spies everywhere. A friend could turn out to be an enemy. Anyone could be a spy. You couldn't trust anyone. Sometimes not even yourself…

Sirius didn't want to think about what he had heardnearly six yearsago from the two boys from the future. He had sworn never to think about it again. But now it wasn't possible any more. It was easy not to worry about things he didn't even believe, and for a long time he had not believed it. But now too much of the story had come true. It was hard to think the twins had lied, while sitting in one room with Lily and James Potter and their fifteen-month-old son. He really didn't know what to do any more. He knew his friends trusted him, but did he trust _himself_? He had to admit it: he did not.

'Don't get me wrong,' he said after a moment of silence 'I'd love to do it for you, you know, but… I'm just not sure I can… Ask Wormtail or someone…'

XXX

'How _could_ you!'

'How could I trust _you_…'

An explosion… Screaming Muggles… Dead bodies… A rat…

And then, perhaps a little too late, he understood. He knew what it must have looked like. There was a big hole in the ground in front of him, dead bodies everywhere around and a small, fat rat running away. And he just _happened_ to be standing there, with his wand out, in the middle of the whole mess. He knew what it meant. He knew that there were already Aurors behind him and that they would never believe his side of the story. He knew what it meant. The two boys from the future had told the truth. Sort of. It wasn't exactly the _truth_, but… well… they had not _lied_. They had just told him what they knew(2). And now the exact thing he had been trying to avoid was happening to him. And only _because_ he'd been trying to avoid it. He already knew what was coming. And where he was going...

And then, as the Aurors reached him, he remembered one more thing the boys had told him. There was still hope! They had said he was going to escape. He knew, of course, that nobody can escape from _there_, but they hadn't lied about anything else, had they? So he was going to escape. He already knew that. And he knew what he was going to do next. As the Aurors draged him away, he glared once again at the rat disappearing in the gutter.

'See you in twelve years, rat,' he said in a hardly audible whisper. And he started to laugh.

* * *

(2) Or were going to know. Whatever. Time is a very confusing thing. 

THE END

_See? Nobody had to forget anything (:_


End file.
